KDK-1 and 5 - the poster children for "So Last Meta" - are the only variants to not come out gagglenerfed - each gets a +15 Structure to the still-quite thoroughly-murderable CT. Helpful, but not really what either variant needed. They will continue to blow chunks next to all other Kodiaks, though the gap is about to get a lot friggin' narrower.
KDK-3 loses all mobility and most of its structure quirks, with a very minor +5 Structure to the CT. It will now drive with all of the agility and responsiveness of a Dire Whale. On the flip side, we'll get to see if all the Mischiefs of the world were right when they said that "the KDK-3 without any quirks at all will still be the best assault 'Mech in the game!" Personally...well, I'll be watching for a significant upspike in overquirked Spheroid fatbros replacing half-legged Kodiaks.
KDK-2 somehow inexplicably loses the majority of its mobility as well, as does the Spirit Bear - which is an assault 'mech with exactly seven hardpoints and a complete inability to pull off any loadout that isn't AS7-S analog brawly striker. The Atlas gets an entire medium 'Mech's worth of free structure and six free weapons modules' worth of weapon quirks. The Spirit Bear gets...~10% mobility and half a Locust's worth of extra structure. For the same armament. Go figure.
The ol' Stink Bear (KDK-4) loses more mobility than the 2 or SB, but less than the KDK-3, as well as receiving the same largely pointless +5 to CT structure as the 2, 3, and SB. Thusly it will be slightly to minorishly more responsive than a Dire Whale and survive for one extra medium laser hit's worth of incoming fire to its small moon-sized torso sections.
Yep. All sounds like just about exactly what folks were looking for. Oh well...suppose I shoulda played more Sprint Bear when I had the chance. Maybe I'll give it one last hurrah this weekend before the patch goes live and it joins my old Victors in the "I used to really love this 'Mech" corner of the hangar. Get it out of my system before the Viper comes in.
Still. Can't accuse Piranha of not listening anymore, can ye? They did pretty much exactly spot-on what "The Community" wanted for the Kodiak. Time to see how we like getting what we deserve, I s'pose.
Edited by 1453 R, 15 July 2016 - 05:55 PM.